Technology

Apple was expected to announce a smart speaker, a market that Amazon - with its sleeper hit, the Echo - and the later Google Home, powered by Assistant - now dominate, given them an integral place in users' lives. Siri's integration also turns the HomePod into a voice-controlled personal assistant. Anybody who wants to get their hands on a HomePod now is going to be disappointed.

Also, if you attempt to sync a 32-bit app through iTunes, it will only leave a placeholder. That money can immediately be used in retail stores that take Apple Pay or can be moved to a bank account. It's also what Microsoft is targeting with the Surface Pro; a new model comes out on June 15. Finally, Apple has also introduced High Efficiency Image File Format (HEIF), which reduces the size of each image taken with the iPhone 7 or iPhone 7 Plus.

The speaker will compete directly with Amazon's Echo and Google Home for the lucrative smart speaker market. The research firm IDC says Apple and Xiaomi each has a worldwide market share of almost 15 percent in the first quarter.

Of course, users will still have the option of manually playing video should they choose to do so. Apple has worked on some updates to its Mail app, using compression to reduce the disk space it uses up by 35 percent. The company claims that the file system will be safe as well as stable, while being faster to boot. An API like Metal 2 is a tool developers use to make software.

However, with successful money transaction apps such as Venmo , Chase Quickpay, or even PayPal , looks like Apple chose to take their payment program one step further. Apple's move into the P-to-P payments landscape is somewhat late to the game and faces stiff competition. Which meant that people had to resort to third party apps like PayPal and Square to transfer funds to friends and colleagues.

Building on all of this, Apple has launched a Metal 2 Developer Kit with support for external graphics . Apple says Safari is the world's fastest desktop browser with High Sierra; it's now 80 percent faster than Chrome , using the newest form of Javascript.

The Photos app in iOS 11 will let users easily clip a small section of a video to create a looping animation, which Apple calls a live photo. For one, both devices will be able to process augmented reality features in games and apps. Individual Apple Music users can share their profiles publicly, or choose to share only selected playlists. This change could mark the beginning of the end for the 9.7-inch screen size - a size which has remained constant in the iPad line since the ...

The free software, iOS 11 , is expected in September, when Apple typically releases new iPhones. So Siri handles the same chores that Alexa and Google Assistant are in charge of for their respective smart speakers . Image credit: Apple Newsroom. Design-wise, the 10.5-inch iPad Pro is very much like its 9.7-inch sibling. Apple's new iMacs are getting brighter displays and graphics capabilities, which Apple says makes the Mac a great platform for developing virtual-reality ...

Shipping as early as today, Apple's MacBook line got a refresh with Intel's Kaby Lake processors. The speaker has the "power to rock the house", according to Schiller, and the aim is to make HomePod a potent assistant for news, messages, weather, traffic, home controls and more .

The features are part of the Mac software update this fall, to be called High Sierra. So far, interest in VR has been strongest among gamers, developers and hardware makers rather than everyday users. For photos, Apple is replacing JPEGs with a new format meant to reduce file sizes. As a music-playing device, it will also be a challenger to Sonos, whose wifi-controlled speakers are used by many smartphone users for home entertainment.

Apple's AR strategy isn't just about a single device, like its still-rumored AR spectacles , but rather about injecting augmented reality into the hundreds of millions of iOS devices already in consumers' hands. Peer-to-peer payments are a response to the popularity of Venmo . Your Siri interactions are synced across devices (and encrypted.) I don't know how much you'll appreciate the new, supposedly more natural-sounding male and female Siri voices.

Apple has also introduced a new 13-inch MacBoook pro model that comes sans the touch bar and is cheaper than last year's base model. Apple also confirmed that the standard iMac lineup will ship with new 7th generation Intel Kaby Lake processors, at up to 4.2 GHz with Turbo Boost or up to 4.5 GHz.

Apple on Monday introduced a music speaker, its first hardware since Apple Watch was rolled out two years ago, at this year's annual Worldwide Developers Conference ( WWDC ). The company is casting Siri as a music connoisseur that will learn and cater to the tastes of the HomePod's owners, as well as answer questions about the songs as they are played.

The free iOS upgrade will be available in the fall. Apple's fifth announcement is a new 10.5-inch iPad Pro, which has a screen that is 20 percent larger than the current 9.8-inch model, largest enough for a full-size digital keyboard.

When users get paid, they receive the money in their new Apple Pay Cash account. The service will launch with Apple's next software update for the iPhone and iPad, called iOS 11 . From there, he or she can either send that money to other contacts, make Apple Pay purchases, or transfer it to a bank. You might use it to pay a friend for pizza, for example, or to split a meal at a restaurant.

The features of Apple's HomePod are exciting, due to their potential. It starts shipping in the U.S, United Kingdom and Australia in December and will roll out to other countries later. You can also control your HomeKit devices remotely now, using the Home app on any iOS device. Additionally, Siri will be able to chime in by answering follow-up questions, and offer multiple results to queries.

Pixar's Woody, Jessie, and Buzz characters from Toy Story will now be available on Apple Watch faces. There's obviously more watch faces, but they're actually a bit smarter than you may think. Users will be able to browse this continuously-updated Siri face by simply twisting their Watch's Digital Crown - and will also be able to receive up-to-the-moment updates from apps such as Wallet, Home, and 3 party apps and much more.

HomePod is a seven-inch-tall speaker that has Apple's digital assistant built in. Like the Amazon Echo and Google Home, the HomePod will play music while also helping people to manage their lives and homes. Despite ever-shrinking sales, Apple announced a refresh for its line of high-end tablets. New iMacs released Monday are getting better displays and graphics capabilities.

It might seem surprising to see Cook market the video shows like The Mozart in the Jungle, Falling Water, and other Amazon exclusive productions but the change has finally happened. It was kicked off the platform way back in order to protect one another from competition. Amazon Prime subscribers can also backup an unlimited number of photos for free .

Cook promised updates to each of Apple's operating systems - for the Apple TV, the Apple Watch , mobile devices and computers - plus some additional announcements that he promises will be "major". Apple did not make it clear whether it would charge either party for transactions. Apple says the machine is fast enough for real-time 3D rendering, code compiling and designing virtual reality content.

There is a new flashlight mode coming with WatchOS 4 as well. New watch-facesThere are new watch faces to look out for this time around, most notably, the Siri watch face , which uses machine learning to track the routines of the user and display relevant complications according to the studied activities .

Apple has also added features and updates to the Workout and Activity apps. Apple is also working with Walt Disney again to create faces for characters from the Toy Story franchise, which join the character faces of Mickey and Minnie Mouse.

The stock closed off $1.57 at $153.88 per share, off around 1 percent on the day. We expect the stock to peak somewhere north of $160 at some point. The new iPads get a boost in the storage department, too. News of the deal, however, has not yet revealed whether Apple TV will make its return to online. This included a landscape with buildings, virtual people running around, and flying vehicles attacking the "town" - all rendered in AR, in real time.

Inside, the brains of the HomePod happen to be the same A8 chip that powers the iPhone , making the speaker one of the most powerful of its kind when it comes to market. The HomePod flexes its audio quality muscles. The Cupertino, California-based company said Siri , which also competes with Alphabet Inc's (GOOGL.O) Google Assistant, will now work across devices.

Apple is launching a smart home speaker called HomePod to compete with the Amazon Echo and Google Home devices, the company revealed at its annual worldwide developer conference . But when you're telling us that all AirPlay 2.0 speakers will be controllable by Siri and any AirPlay speaker can be accessed and grouped by the Home app, we should probably spend a few minutes on that.

A new Siri watchface predicts what you'll want to see when you look at your wrist, while improvements to the device's fitness features will let you track new types of high-intensity workouts. That's especially important because people are starting to access information, entertainment and search in a more "pervasive" way that's less dependent on smarthphones, he said.

The Apple Watch will also be able to connect with a new wave of gym equipment rolling out from some Apple partners, and have Native Bluetooth for connecting with health monitoring devices. Of course, it remains to be seen if the new feature kills other apps like Venmo, PayPal , and Square Cash, but all said, you'll have one more option when you're attempting to sort out a restaurant bill after brunch with six people.

Apple also trotted out a new line of the iPad Pro, the higher-end, business-class version of its tablet platform, supporting a full-screen keyboard and 30-plus languages, as well as HDR video. Non-vital notifications will not be pushed through the iPhone in this mode. Among the biggest changes was replacing JPEG capture with a format called HEIF.

The Golden State Warriors are redefining dominance. While James has delivered - he had a triple-double Sunday night in Game 2 - it hasn't been almost enough against the superstar-laden Golden State Warriors . "I'm good. I just need some fluid and some wine and I'll be alright". The general public can buy them starting at 1 p.m. Tickets are $20 each and parking costs $10.

The company was expected to introduce iOS 11 , the next version of the software that powers the iPhone and iPad. Apple Pay has undergone a massive overhaul which makes it possible to person-to-person payments, meaning it could potentially replace Paypal .

In Game 2 the Cavs made the Warriors earn their points. It was a great moment for him and for the crowd and everybody showing their appreciation for all he's been through. Golden State holds a 2-0 lead in the Finals. The Warriors had a 1-0 lead against LeBron James and the Cavs. The Warriors have not exactly suffered without him , posting an unblemished 11-0 record under interim head coach Mike Brown during the playoffs.

All of the devices will be shipping from today and in stores from June 7. It's in slate gray, a color that hasn't been used before in the iMac lineup. As with the iMac range, MacBooks now run on faster Kaby Lake processors with up to 50 per cent faster SSD. The company says Metal 2 will also support Unity, Unreal Engine and the Steam VR SDK, making Apple's new operating system a true VR-native.

The photo app will also be refreshed and will become more similar to Adobe's Photoshop. With a new dock, accessible from any screen, you can launch and switch between apps - just like with a Mac. Using a phone while driving is a questionable decision, and Apple wants to help people stay on the good side of a auto crash. iPhones will now detect when they're connected to CarPlay or use a combination of heuristics from Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, and Global Positioning System data to detect when a person ...

By sensing the room size, space and what occupied it, HomePod can best determine how to project your music throughout. It would mark an effort by Apple to catch up with Amazon and Google . Apple's HomePod will come in white and black, and as it comes with HomeKit built into the device , works to control smart appliances around your home even when you just interact with your iPhone from another location.

Soon you'll be able to pay your friend for that ski trip using Apple Pay. Attendees prepare to enter the McEnery Convention Center before the start of the Apple Worldwide Developers Conference ( WWDC ) in San Jose, California, U.S., on Monday, June 5, 2017.

The Apple Watch will also be able to connect with a new wave of gym equipment rolling out from some Apple partners, and have Native Bluetooth for connecting with health monitoring devices . So many new features in this new update. Apple said just like the iPod reinvented music in our pockets, it wants to do the same for music in our homes.

Schiller said devices like the Amazon Echo have poor sound quality, and wifi speakers like Sonos don't have interactive voice assistants. The money one receives will be stored in their new Apple Pay Cash account which can be used to transfer money to someone, make purchases via Apple Pay in stores, apps and also on the web.

But since, like most of you, we aren't developers, we'll leave that to those intrepid developers. Tim Cook and Apple talked a lot about the Mac at WWDC 2017 . With the upcoming release of iOS 11 , your iPhone will have a Do Not Disturb mode for driving. This year, two phones and one tablet are getting the axe: 2012's iPhone 5 and fourth-generation iPad , and 2013's iPhone 5C.

Siri will learn all of this based on what you search and browse on your iPhone. Make sure you select Apple Watch when asked where you wish to install the profile. The upgraded 12.9-inch iPad Pro includes the same A10X Fusion processor, while the form factor remains the same as its predecessor. The new iPad starts at $649 and will start shipping next week.

You can also get the iOS 11 beta via a Mac or PC. Intelligent learning that learns from device and contextual awareness. The company adds that Metal 2 is also optimised for machine learning and external graphics cards. The new operating system will come with an improved Photos app which allows you to edit the cool moving "Live Photos " using "Loop and Bounce" effects.

Although nothing is ever guaranteed until Tim Cook trots out on stage and announces a new product, it appears that the iPhone 8 is largely shaping up to be the radical redesign of the iPhone form factor we've all been patiently waiting for.

Eager for a piece of the personal assistant/smart speaker pie, Apple will be releasing their HomePod system, a Siri-enabled smart speaker that does all the usual things you've come to expect. Most notably, Apple is moving to HEVC for video encoding. "It's time for a more modern file system", said Federighi. But of course, like any other brand new pre-release software, there are bound to be numerous issues.

New Today , Games, and Apps tabs to make app discovery easier. There's plenty of incentive for developers to get behind the new gadget. You'll also be able to use the watch face as a flashlight or blinking light during runs - a neat safety touch.

But Apple occasionally also uses the event to introduce new devices and services and upgrades to existing products. After months of speculation as to whether or not Apple would throw its hat into the smart speaker ring, the company used its annual developer conference to debut the HomePod .

Apple is getting serious about competing with Amazon's and Google's infiltration of the home . In contrast, reviewers have panned the sound quality of both the Google and Amazon speakers. Siri also has a new screen in the Apple Watch which presents data and information that may echo earlier behavior at a similar time of day or the week.

Given that focus, the HomePod has a more impressive array of internal hardware than any smart speaker before it. Apple Music is also going to be more closely integrated with the watch, with automatic syncing for playlists. Yet it isn't as bulky as the 12.9-inch model. Apple is clearly trying to position its desktop and laptop computers to appeal more to creative professionals, including game developers.

Why? Because Apple's finally expected to unveil its highly anticipated competitor to the Amazon Echo and Google Home . "It's time for a more modern file system", said Federighi. Kuo has a good track record of accurately predicting Apple's devices and products. "But I think we are at a point where AI does matter in the advertising spiel".

The HomePod speaker was the main product, though Kiwis will have to wait until next year to buy it. It comes as Apple is poised to unveil a Siri-powered internet-connected speaker to rival Amazon's Echo and Google Home. The new update will include noteworthy changes to Apple Pay, Messages, Siri , Photos, and other Apple software. There are 5300 developers from 75 counties, ranging in age from 6 to 82.

The new Today tab will show new apps for you to check out as well as interviews with developers and app tips, and there will be dedicated tabs for Games and Apps for you to view new releases and top charts. The mobile operating system will also get a new file management system that is much more closely aligned with the traditional file systems found on desktop and laptop computers.

The free software, iOS 11 , is expected in September, when Apple typically releases new iPhones. This month is the tenth anniversary of the first iPhone launch, which many think will lead to a more-dramatic-than-usual update to its hardware design later this year.